Three Girls Soccer Teams To Represent The 618 This Weekend At State Tournament

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Three local girls soccer teams will represent Southern Illinois this weekend at the state tournament, one in each class.

In Class 3A, state-bound for the first time in program history, are the Edwardsville Tigers.

They finished the regular season at 13-3-1 before winning the Alton Regional and the Pekin Sectional. Edwardsville has not lost a game since April 27 during a tournament played in Iowa.

The Tigers will take on New Trier (23-2-4) in the second Class 3A semifinal on Friday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m. All state tournament games will be held at North Central College in Naperville.

The Class 3A third-place game is on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. with the championship at 6:30 p.m.

Moving down to Class 2A are the Triad Knights, returning to the state tournament for a seventh time. It will be their fifth trip since 2017.

Looking for its fourth state title, Triad closed the regular season at 16-4-1 and hasn’t lost a game since April 9, a 4-0 loss to a top-20 nationally ranked Cor Jesu Academy.

The Knights got to host three postseason games, winning a regional title on their home field before winning the Freeburg Sectional. They then returned home to host Chatham Glenwood in the super-sectional and won 2-0, earning a spot in the tournament.

Triad will take on Peoria Notre Dame (24-1-1) in the second Class 2A semifinal at 3 p.m. Friday. The Class 2A third-place game is on Saturday at 10 a.m. with the championship at 4:30 p.m.

Triad won state titles in 2011 under Mike Villa and then three more in 2017, 2021, and 2022 under Matt Bettlach who has been coaching the team since 2014.

Last and certainly not least are the Althoff Crusaders in Class 1A.

They already played and won their semifinal game, beating Willows Academy (20-3-1) by a score of 2-0 Thursday afternoon. They await the winner from the second semifinal and will play in the championship game on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Althoff finished the regular season at 9-9-3 before winning a regional title at SWIC, then beating Columbia in a penalty shootout to win a sectional title.

They haven’t dropped a game since April 15, a 1-0 loss to Triad.

Althoff, at the tournament for the sixth time in program history, will be playing in its fourth championship game. All five previous trips were under former longtime head coach Juergen Huethner who coached from 2005-2022.

Althoff won the state tournament in 2010 in Class 2A and again in 2021 in Class 1A.

Stay tuned to Riverbender.com for more news on the state tournament over the weekend.

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